ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AND ROBOTICS

Getting more human

INVESTMENT CASE

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AND ROBOTICS

​

Thanks to increasing computing power and big data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been expanding at a fast pace, with notably major advances in the fields of natural language processing and computer vision

The development of the Internet of Things and of standard operating systems for objects and devices could give another massive boost to AI applications over coming years. With this, smart cars, smart homes and smart factories could become reality sooner than expected

Specifically, collaborative robots could be a major field of application as software recreating the human thought process combines with mechatronic devices gradually becoming able to replicate the five human senses. Robot adoption should benefit from falling costs and from increasing labor costs in emerging markets that make them an attractive ROI proposition

FROM AUTOMATION TO "INTELLIGENCE"

Artificial Intelligence is about computer systems doing what is usually performed by the human intelligence

THE 3RD AND FINAL STAGE
OF TECHNOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

After Tools and Machines, Automation comes as the 3rd step of technological evolution

THE HISTORY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

MAIN APPLICATIONS

AI finds many applications in data-rich industries (banking, advertising/marketing, healthcare) where it can improve corporations’ efficiency through the collection, processing and analysis of data

Smart cars, smart homes and smart factories. And now smart cities. Whether you like it or not, AI is definitively about to run most aspects of our lives. Smart monitoring systems can have a wide variety of applications, from traffic and parking space management to urban planning and law enforcement

It is also expected to play a major role in the industrial world, where robotics adoption should accelerate

WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW?

A KEY DRIVER OF PRODUCTIVITY
IN THE SERVICES BUSINESS

AI-as-a-service is a major catalyst. Cloud-industry leaders like Amazon or Microsoft already provide AI-as-a-service making access to AI affordable to most companies

AI applications are numerous in services businesses. Companies get access to new revenue streams and/or better efficiencies through tools helping them to:

BIG DATA AND COMPUTING POWER
ARE THE TWO MAIN CATALYSTS

Increasing processing power

Advanced processors (graphic processing units) are key to AI development. GPUs are specialized at massively parallelizing computation. Computer technology, is now progressing more each hour than it did in its entire first 90 years. Computing power is now at the level of the mouse brain

Increasing data

Most of the models are learning through feedback, thus requiring large amounts of labeled data. In 2020, digital data is expected to be 50 times bigger than in 2013 (source: IDC)

THE ACCELERATING PACE OF CHANGE...

...AND EXPONENTAL GROWTH IN COMPUTING POWER...

Source: The Times

...WILL LEAD TO THE SINGULARITY

VIDEO GAMES HAVE BEEN A FIELD
OF EXPERIMENTATION FOR AI

The relation between AI and video games is as strong as ever:

AI technology adds realistic, intelligent behavior to the virtual creatures that populate a game world

Video games are a major area of experimentation for AI

VIRTUAL REALITY IS THE NEXT
EVOLUTION IN GAMING…

Game developers now have to come up with intelligent digital environments

ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION:
AI APPLIED TO THE INDUSTRY

Collaborative robots have a compelling ROI proposition:

$30-40k on average vs. $50-250k (+ high integration costs) for traditional industrial robots

they can work 24/7, never call in sick, never go on strike

Current generations of robots are easier to program and come with features such as vision and touch technologies. Collaborative robots can work alongside humans without a safety cage, meaning they can easily be deployed within a factory

It’s important to keep in mind that a robot is a combination of:

steel

servo-motors

sensors

tools to perform tasks (such as cutting lasers and other equipment)

intelligence (OS, computing power, machine vision).

In our view, most of the value lies in the software and computing power

PERSPECTIVES

A POTENTIALLY HUGE ECONOMIC IMPACT

In a 2013 study, McKinsey estimated the annual positive impact of AI-related technologies on global GDP ($ 80 Tn) in the range of 6.5%-8.3% by 2025

AI could double economic growth over the next 20 years in 12 developed economies (Accenture)

Range of sized potential economic impacts in 2025, $ trillion

THE ULTIMATE GOAL FOR AI SCIENTISTS

A machine performing any tasks (including thinking and understanding) a human being would do

We believe this won’t be possible… until quantum computing becomes truly available

Quantum computation refers to encoding information as 0s, 1s or both simultaneously, unlike conventional digital computers where information is encoded by 0s and 1s

Thanks to quantum computing:

the power at which information can be manipulated and combined is gargantuan

it becomes possible to work on billions of variables at the same time

An AI system substantially beyond human intelligence by handling and taking as much information as possible into account.

While we’re still not there, we are moving fast as shown on the
picture (Quantum computer at Google labs in 2016)

quantum computing to be available at worst in 20 years, at best in ten years